We still haven't sold UK rights and they cover Australia, so I'm not surprised you had to hunt it down. Sorry. We've sold the book all over the world, but the Brits aren't biting. I should have put in more kippers references.

Finally got round to picking up the paperback Sandman Slim and I couldn't put it down. I always kind of feel bad after reading a book in a day or two though considering how much time the author put into it. I might have to get the hardback of the next one. I've already recommended it to a bunch of friends who enjoy this sort of thing. Leather jackets, demon-slaying, self-destructive tendencies, really big knives etc.

Evenin' Richard,I've managed to track down and read most your fiction, bar 'Kamikaze L'Amour' which has been a bit of a pain to get at the right price (though i'll probably get it through book depository) and i've thoroughly enjoyed all of it. I'm also a big fan of Tom Waits and liked the inclusion of the 'Alice' lyrics in 'Sandman Slim', which reminds me of Neil Gaiman including a Waits reference in 'American Gods'. How old were you when you started listening to Tom Waits and what's your favourite era/album?

What was the Waits reference in American Gods? I know the book, but I don't remember the quote.

I’m one of those people who liked Waits' from the start but started getting tired of the wino beatnik poet thing. Then he did Swordfishtrombones and from there on I knew he was someone I would stick with. I used a Waits quote for my first novel, Metrophage, too.

Now I lay me down to sleepI hear the sirens in the streetAll my dreams are made of chromeI have no way to get back home

I’m pretty sure that Borderlands Books in San Francisco has copies of Kamikaze L’Amour for a reasonable price. (415) 824-8203

Gaiman used a few lines from 'Tango Till They're Sore' to open Chapter 10.

I'll tell you all my secretsBut i lie about my pastSo send me off to bed forever more

Gaiman also included a reference to the Burma-shave ad campaign, Waits being how i was first introduced to the ads. And because of the name i kept thinking of the line 'Shadow fixed the toilet with an old trombone. He never get up in the morning on a Saturday ' from 'Gun St Girl'.

I remember seeing Burma Shave-style ads driving through the deep south when I was a kid. Not the real thing, but local copies. For all I know, they're still there, full of bullet holes and rotting next to barbwire fences around sorghum fields.

I'm guessing it has nothing to do with the movie containing a vigilante ex-psychic spy portrayed by Sir Ben Kingsley. Your story will most certainly be more entertaining and intelligent than Aaron Eckhart straining my ability to suspend disbelief for over an hour.